Senior cleric retains top post in Iran’s constitutional body

Iran Focus: Tehran, Iran, Feb. 21 – A senior Iranian cleric has retained his post as head of a key constitutional supervisory body, amid speculation that he would forego the position to Iran’s former President Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani.
Iran Focus

Tehran, Iran, Feb. 21 – A senior Iranian cleric has retained his post as head of a key constitutional supervisory body, amid speculation that he would forego the position to Iran’s former President Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani.

Ayatollah Ali Meshkini took his seat as Chairman of the Assembly of Experts in the first round of the assembly’s 4th session on Tuesday. Despite backroom chatter that Rafsanjani would contest for leadership of the assembly, Meshkini took control unchallenged.

Rafsanjani along with another hard-line cleric Ayatollah Mohammad-Taqi Mesbah-Yazdi were appointed as the constitutional body’s vice-chairmen.

The 86-member Assembly of Experts is an exclusively clerical body entrusted with the task of selecting the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution.

Assembly members are elected to eight-year terms. Polling for the 4th assembly was conducted in December. Following strict vetting of candidates by the Guardians Council, however, some districts were left with only one candidate.

Far from being a popularity contest, analysts described the poll as a manifestation of factional feuding.